Webcam not turning on

Support & Help Requests
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1

Amidst everyone else, I've got to host a web meeting. My webcam used to work--at least in Facebook messenger. It no longer works there or anywhere. (I have installed some things like java since then.)

I have to get it to work in Webex. Any ideas? I've tried Cheese and it comes up, but the buttons at the bottom where the video icon sits are grayed out. When I try Webex, a light comes on my lap top near the camera for a few seconds like it is trying to access the camera. Then, nothing.

I am using Ubuntu Mate 18.04.

You guys have helped me in the past. So, I feel confident you can again. Thanks!

2

does lspci list the webcam as a device?
also is there any info in dmesg about the webcam?

trying to find the device info and the driver associated.

3

Thanks for your reply.

It does not show up as a device in the lspci list. I also do not see anything in dmesg, except where I tried to install webcamoid.

4

Try lsusb (checked with my laptop)

5

This is what I got. Does not appear to be any webcam. :frowning:

Bus 002 Device 006: ID 04f9:0229 Brother Industries, Ltd
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:5801 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

6

It's an old hp probook 6550b. Does that help?

7

Looking at the specs of the laptop, the webcam should be a Chicony Electronics Ltd vendor but if it does not show up on lsusb ... I'll keep looking.

8

OK. I found some chicony files via catfish.

9

image
image760×187 33.9 KB

10

are you using that kernel ... 5.3.0-40

I assume your laptop is up-to-date, uname -r will show your kernel

11

This is what I get: 5.3.0-42-generic

12

Can you try these commands ...

http://www.ucview.com/products/linux-client-installation

after install, reboot, check lsusb or dmesg to see if webcam is recognized.

13

I've not yet rebooted because this is what I got with the last 2 command lines. Should I continue to reboot?

root@Martha:/home/lisa# wget -q http://packages.ucview.com/public.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -
OK
root@Martha:/home/lisa# sudo apt-get update
E: Malformed entry 49 in list file /etc/apt/sources.list (URI parse)
E: The list of sources could not be read.
root@Martha:/home/lisa# sudo apt-get install ucview
E: Malformed entry 49 in list file /etc/apt/sources.list (URI parse)
E: The list of sources could not be read.
E: Malformed entry 49 in list file /etc/apt/sources.list (URI parse)
E: The list of sources could not be read.

14

can you post your /etc/apt/sources.list ... one entry is malformed.

15

I cannot include everything, but here is line 49:
deb httppackages.ucview.con/ ./

16

it should be ...

deb http://packages.ucview.com/ ./
can you edit/fix?

17

I just saw it as you posted. I can fix it.

18

then sudo apt update ... make sure All packages are up to date, then reboot, and test.

19

Thanks. It may be awhile before I post again. I'll let you know how it goes!

20

After the restart, my computer will not boot up. It is stuck in a boot mode. It does not even get to the GRUB line. So, is there a boot up download I can get somewhere to get to the command line? Then how do I fix it? I saw somewhere that it could be related to graphics?